Emanuel Touts City's Savings Record For His First 100 Days
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This week marks a major milestone of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's young administration, and he is reflecting on his first 100 days in office.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, this coming Tuesday marks 100 days since Mayor Emanuel took the oath of office and succeeded his political mentor, Mayor Richard M. Daley, to become the city's first commander in chief in 22 years.
Emanuel, 51, left the White House, where he served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff, to take over the fifth floor of City Hall.
In marking the milestone of 100 days, Emanuel is set to provide a report card Monday on his administration's project in realizing $75 million in savings for 2011, which he announced on his first day in office.
He says within 100 days, his administration has realized $51.3 million in savings, through cuts to senior management, streamlining of government functions, and freezing contracts that have been deemed non-essential.
"Promises are merely promises but results are what we are here to deliver to taxpayers," Emanuel said in a news release. "The goals I set for my administration hold me, and my team, accountable to the people who pay the bills and rely on us to be responsible stewards of the city budget – the taxpayers."
Emanuel says his administration has also saved $20 million through a city hiring freeze for nonessential personnel, and a partnership between the city's Department of Public Health and Federally Qualified Health Centers to provide health care at a lower cost.
He anticipates $10 million to $12 million more in savings by the end of the year through cuts in seasonal labor and privatizing such functions as employee benefits management, housekeeping services at the city's airports and libraries, and the water bill call center.
In the past 100 days, Emanuel has already touted numerous achievements, among them putting new requirements on consultants hired to find cost savings in the city's contract procurement process, and highlighting the conclusion that Chicago needs a casino in order to make up for the loss of federal funds.
He also brought in a new police boss from the outside, in the form of Supt. Garry McCarthy, but made sure he was a former cop to avoid rankling the rank and file officers who didn't like the fact that McCarthy's predecessor, Jody Weis, never wore a police uniform until he became superintendent.
